The present invention relates to a method assembly of a liquid crystal display apparatus, and to an apparatus for assembly of a liquid crystal display apparatus, in which a pair of substrates to be laminated are respectively supported and placed so as to oppose each other in the vacuum chamber, after which those substrates are brought together in face-to-face relationship, with the gap between the substrates being narrowed down in a reduced pressure state.
There are two methods generally used for the assembly of a liquid crystal display apparatus. In one method, a pair of transparent glass substrates, having thin film transistor arrays, are brought together in face-to-face relationship to a distance as small as several μm and they joined with an adhesive agent (hereinafter referred to also as a sealing material, while the finished substrate is hereinafter referred to as a cell). Then, the airspace formed between those substrates is filled by injection with a liquid crystal material. In another method, the liquid crystal material is drip-fed on the surface of one substrate, on which a closed pattern is formed with a sealing material, so that a filler hole for injection need not be provided, and then the other substrate is placed on the one substrate as the substrates are brought together in face-to-face relationship, so as to be very dose to each other.
As for an assembly apparatus for assembly of the liquid crystal display apparatus by bringing together a pair of substrates in face-to-face relationship, there is a substrate assembly apparatus for supporting the upper-side substrate prior to applying pressure, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Number 2001-133745 (2001). In the apparatus disclosed in this publication, the upper-side substrate is supported by adhesion means, and the substrates are brought together in face-to-face relationship by narrowing down the distance between the substrates. In its preferred embodiment, what are disclosed include a method in which an adhesive sheet is used as the adhesive means, and a configuration in which an open port is provided inside the pressurizing plate and an actuator is provided above the pressurizing plate, so that the adhesive member moves up and down in the open port.
In the configuration disclosed in the above-referenced publication, the substrate is supported so as to contact the adhesive means in an atmospheric pressure state. In case the substrate is supported by adhesive means in an atmospheric pressure state, a problem may occur in that air tends to penetrate through a space between the substrate and the adhesive means which has been created due to the concave and/or convex shape of the surface of the substrate or a deflection of the substrate. Therefore, as the internal pressure of the chamber is reduced, the air contained between the substrate and the adhesive means expands, leading to a weakening of the support, and at worst, to a disabling of the support of the substrate, causing the substrate to come loose from its support.